Yurt Restaurant

Coloured like the sandy landscapes of the Ovorhangay region, with carved wood and horse hair adorned pillars, the yurt restaurant welcomes you from 6 AM to midnight.

In the plate, cuisine inspired by local traditions. Highlights, lamb and mutton meat, with aromatic herbs, abundant in the region, elaborated in a traditional manner or freely interpreted by our chef.

On the menu, lamb skewers and its chive cream, or khorkhog, wild lamb cooked on stones seasoned with spices. There is also huushur, a snack of mutton meat fried in grease, excellent for health, and served with carrots, potatoes, garlic and onion, an inescapable must of Mongolian cuisine. Or lamb cassolette, vegetables and pine kernel, a recipe offered in a variety of salty and sweet versions. Vegetarians, having ventured to Mongolia, will find solace in the starters composed invariably of salads and fresh vegetables.

And for breakfast?

Served as a buffet, French or English style breakfast is served from 6 AM to 11 AM. To add a Mongolian touch, savour sour tasting goat or sheep milk yogurt, or boorstog, a substantial cake, ideal in anticipation of an action-filled day. And the absolute specialty that will make you come back to Mongolia: The sharvin, the best pancake in the world!

Stay Connected or Disconnect: To Charge Your Batteries, Head for the Bar!

At all hours, come charge your batteries in a figurative as well as literal sense (electricity plugs available). In a cosy atmosphere, relax while listening to traditional Mongolian music (e.g. by Jantsannorov, the composer of the famous soundtrack to the Queen Mandukhai film, or by the Boerte group’s musical compositions tainted with electrojazz sounds, all assembled in our Out of NowHere compilations). Share some cheerful moments together while playing checkers, chess or jacks, all free of charge at your disposal in the bar yurt. Through the slightly open door, watch the farmers bring in their herds as you sip French wine from our delicious collection (Sauternes, Chardonnay, Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Champagne) or one of our 20 alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.

Enjoy some music and celebration!

Step & Spa Concept

Inspired by high quality beauty and health centres, the Step&Spa service is at once voluptuous, therapeutic and ecological. Singled out by our clients – 80% find it excellent, 20% good – this service transforms ablution into a genuine moment of pleasure and relaxation.

Privacy & Respect for Environment

Ursa Major Geolodge offers a service of hot towels scented with pine essential oil for your ablutions in order to preserve the environment and authenticity of traditional Mongolian accommodation, based on the very idea of being nomadic. You will enjoy a new way of taking care of your body in the privacy of your yurt with no cement constructions that would satisfy urban sedentary habits but not nomadic standards in the heart of the vast steppe. 

Delivered in bamboo baskets by the geolodge hostesses, the towels heated with the vapour of pine essential oil are supplied morning and night or on demand.
* 4 towels (50x50cm)

Harmony and Vitality

During ablutions, let go to a unique sensual experience, be enlivened by the pine fragrance that perfumes your yurt and produces a true calming feeling. A few drops of this essential oil have multiple curative virtues and revitalizing effect. Antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic, pine essential oil is also recommended to boost your immune system, and ideal to clear your airways. Something to open your chakras in the morning or prepare you softly for a good night’s sleep.

Nirvanic Drop

One must add its advantageous ecological dimension to the energizing and relaxing powers of this service, which is highly respectful towards the environment around the camp as well as the nomadic culture of people living here. Only 3 litres of water are used per person per service against the 30 to 80 litres that would have to be used for a shower. 

Water saving, respect of territory, pleasure and care are therefore the 4 qualities of our Step&Spa service, a concept that we are extremely proud of.

HAIR COCOON
Pampered from roots to ends

In the hair cocoon yurt, like at hair-dresser’s, get comfortable in your armchair and enjoy a professional hair-styling session: Shampoo, scalp massage, blow-dry and hair-cut (excepting hair-cuts, all services are free of cost). The hair-dressers, wearing traditional Mongolian clothes, wash your hair using a «tea pot». For a shampoo, only 1 to 3 litres of water are used depending on the type of hair. As a part of the StepSpa service, designed to keep the territory free of any soil pollution from waste water, Hair Cocoon uses shampoos with natural components and no chemical additives. This enables us to be as close as possible to the nomadic farmer families whose herds and flocks sometimes come to graze right here on our land… or, more accurately, their land since no one is really the owner of these parts – we are tenants at best.

DRY TOILETS 
An aesthetic structure and classic comfort

Designed by a Mongolian architect, the Ursa Major’s dry toilets combine aesthetic and ecological dimensions for a 100% successful territorial integration. Adorned with jute cloth stitched with olzii motifs, the toilets are equipped with a wooden toilet seat, a bucket of sawdust and a ladle. Its use guarantees a dry and wholesome environment which won’t pollute groundwater. The used toilet paper is collected in a waste basket every two hours. 

Thanks to the combined use of sawdust and a layer of straw, solids and liquids break away from each other avoiding unpleasant smells. As is the case of Step&Spa and Hair Cocoon services, dry toilets allows us to avoid any use of chemical products and heavy installations such as septic tanks so that the ecological and nomadic character of Ursa Major Geolodge can be preserved.

Astronomical Observation

With one of the most beautiful night skies above your head, it would be a shame not to explore it. We have everything prepared for you: MEADE LX 200 ACF telescope, the biggest privately-owned one in the whole country, is located right at Ursa Major. Integrating one of the last generation optical systems, the telescope offers the possibility to see make undistorted night sky observations. The localization of the stars and the orientation of the telescope are automated thanks to an integrated and 16 GPS canals. It is also an ideal tool for astro-photography of high definition and precision.

But star gazing in Mongolia is not just about the beautiful experience; it is a very important part of the local culture. By looking up at the sky and watching the movement of the Moon and the stars, you will participate in a centuries-long tradition of astronomical observations that allowed nomadic people to navigate through the vast steppes and deserts, determine time and date, or predict weather.

Due to the essential character of astronomy in the local conditions, we have started a project called AstroMongolia within which we study contemporary Mongolian cosmogony. Read more about the project here.

Concierge & VIP Service

The Out of NowHere Concierge Service bends over backwards to make your trip a firework.

Feel like a private concert, a private air transfer to the hotel, a shamanic ceremony, a horseback ride or a philharmonic brass band in the moonlight, a party in the middle of the steppe or a film projection under the stars or just some advice? Nothing is impossible!

Entrust us with your dreams and those you want to surprise. We are your magicians!

Land like a bird at Ursa Major

From UB, fly over of the beautifull landscape, rivers, and moutains… And here you are! You have reached Ursa Major in 1h30, check in included.

Seen from above, so much to love!

Our partners: